COLD BLOOD

out of sight of the house, and was hastening
back into the hollow through a parcel of
whispering firs, when I saw the sparkle of
nickel, and there was Grieg's car.
It was empty and its engine was cold.
For a little I could not conceive why the car
should be there. Then it flashed "into my
mind that Grieg had thus bestowed it against
his arrest. Had he left it at the door of the
mansion or even within some yard, he could
scarcely have reached it, much less have
driven it off, except by consent of those who
had come to make his arrest, but by leaving it
hidden beyond the girdle of turf, he had only
himself to gain cover, make his way round to
its l&ir and then drive quietly away while those
who had come to take him were searching the
house. To support this conclusion, the car
had been backed into hiding and so stood afl
ready for a precipitate flight.
After a moment's reflection, I opened the
bonnet and took the contact-breaker away.
I slid this into my pocket and shut the bonnet
again. The car was now at my service, but at
that of nobody else, yet showed no sign of
having been disabled or even of having been
.touched. When I glanced at the petrol-gauge
this showed that the tank was half full. I
then recovered Grieg's pistol which Rowley
had put in a locker behind the tach; seat, and so
licked clean the platter which IUCF had thrust
onder my nose.
We were once more both of us armed and